Most expensive F1 car sold at auction? 1954 Mercedes streamliner could exceed $52m

New York Times

29-01-2025

A Mercedes once driven by Formula One greats Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss 70 years ago could become the most expensive grand prix car in history when it is auctioned this weekend.
Auctioneers RM Sotheby's are selling the 1954 Mercedes W196 R on behalf of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and have priced it in excess of 50 million euros (£41 million and $52 million at current conversion rates).
Should it meet the target price, the car would become the second-most expensive car sold at auction, according to Reuters. It would also surpass the $29.6 million paid in 2013 for a 1954 Mercedes W196 R (also driven by Fangio), currently the most expensive F1 car sold at auction.
The W196 R heralded Mercedes' return to racing for the first time since World War II and was the car Fangio drove in two of his five world championship-winning seasons. With the W196 R, Mercedes won nine of the 12 F1 points events entered and enjoyed 11 victories in 14 starts.
One of four complete models in existence, this particular W196 R has been at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum since 1965.
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On its debut at the 1954 French Grand Prix, the W196 R's appearance 'inspired awe, looking unlike anything anyone had ever seen before in a Formula One race,' Sotheby's writes. Mercedes achieved a 1-2 finish in that race, and the Silver Arrows became the dominant team on the track as Fangio won the drivers' title, ruining Ferrari's hopes of a third straight championship. The world constructors' championship, however, did not yet exist.
The car being auctioned in Stuttgart this weekend, chassis number 00009/54, entered testing in December 1954 and made its race debut with Fangio at the wheel at the Buenos Aires GP a month later. As it wasn't an F1 event, there were no championship points to contend for, but Fangio nevertheless went on to win by recording the lowest total time over two 30-lap heats.
In September of that year, at the Italian GP, chassis number 00009/54 competed on the track for the last time, with Moss driving and recording the fastest lap of the race in Monza.
Fangio won the race with team-mate Piero Taruffi second. It was a final 1-2 Mercedes finish before it left the sport only to return as a constructor in 2010.